A Step By Step Guide: Building a Survival Games Map

[static_nightmare]

A Step By Step Guide: Building a Survival Games Map​

As you probably know, I build Survival Games maps, and as the latest two out of the three I have built have been accepted as part of the MCSG servers (Breeze Island and Insanity Cause). I am currently working on a map that I think is much better than both of those maps, and as far as I'm concerned, I am also an officer of Team Elite. On that fact, I have good reason to say I know how to build Survival Games Maps, due to knowing what makes maps good (e.g many chests evenly dispersed throughout the map), and what makes map bad (large areas of water, lack of open space for PvP). So I have designed a nice step by step tutorial to help you build Survival Games maps.
There are 3 major stages in this tutorial, each stage divided up into what to do during this stage. Before starting, it is very necessary to decide on an appropriate theme, so you know what you're going to be building. Consider the following:

• Biome, not necessarily a vanilla biome (e.g Tropical Island, Urban)
• Culture (e.g Pirates + Paradise, Modern City culture)
• Era and Setting (e.g 1500-1800 ad + caribbean, Future abandoned city)

The map should be round, and have a diameter of at least 400 blocks. Do not make maps too large either, or games will generally be too long and boring to play. While building, constantly make back ups in case you make a costly mistake somewhere. Remember, you are building a Survival Games map, not a Hunger Games map, so it doesn't have to be coherent with the Hunger Games setting and universe.

​

 

[static_nightmare]

Stage 1: Terraforming​

Terraforming is creating the initial landscape for your map. At this stage, you will be required to use mods or terrain-generating applications such as WorldPainter. Mods that you can use for terraforming include:

• WorldEdit- Can generate small-size spheres and cylinders, and the smooth tool and overlay tool can help you create basic hills. It is not recommended to use WorldEdit for large-scale terraforming (e.g. Mountains), unless you have time to do so, and you are willing to perhaps do many touch-ups by hand to make the terrain more appealing. WorldEdit comes with the single player commands mod for SSP, and is available as a plugin for Bukkit Servers. A brush useful for making nice cliffs with WorldEdit is a gravel sphere brush. Gravity will mean the gravel falls nicely into place allowing for the 'Breeze Island style cliffs'
• Voxel Sniper- The preferred mod for terraforming. It is available only as a server plugin, therefore you will need to run a Bukkit server to use this mod. There is a large variety of different brushes you can use for terraforming on a much larger-scale than WorldEdit, and allows for much nicer looking terrain than WorldEdit. Its complexity will take time to master, and its terminology is somewhat complex, and may take time to learn on top of everything else.
• WorldEdit CraftScripts- These can be found on websites such as PlanetMinecraft and you can install them as apart of WorldEdit for both SSP and multiplayer. They can add some useful brushes and commands for WorldEdit, useful for terraforming, allowing you to use some Voxel Sniper brushed in single player, minus the somewhat difficult terminology of Voxel Sniper. Some CraftScripts I recommend are Inhaze's ones here
• WorldPainter- Not a Mod, but an application for generating minecraft terrain. You can not edit already-made maps with this tool. Useful if the main emphasis of the map is not on the terrain. It does, however, take some skill to use properly, as without using the brushes appropriately, the landscape may become symmetrical, which is extremely unnatural. Keep in the mind that the trees that you place with WorldPainter are not Vanilla Minecraft trees, and they may be regarded by some as ugly and unnatural looking (personally, I dislike the oak, pine, and swamp trees that are placed through WorldPainter, but I quite like the jungle trees, hence their usage in Insanity Cause). It is most useful to use this application in conjunction with WorldEdit and/or Voxel Sniper.

I recommend not building trees or large areas of tall grass until the end of the second step, so that you can place them according to the structures built on your map. Do not create the glass dome in this step, as it may get in the way of any touch-ups that you may do. Primarily for terraforming, terrain needs to be natural looking, varied, and depending on the theme of your map, eye-catching and appealing. Never stay away from using your hands, as tools can't do everything. You will have to go over the terrain several times and check for unnatural looking things or out of place blocks, for you to fix up with your hands or remove. Remember to not only focus on what will be within the glass dome of your map, but around it, as people can see outside of the dome. Expect to build up until a far render distance outside the dome. Avoid large areas of ocean in the accessible map, or areas you may get stuck in. If there are oceans, include islands or boats as places of refuge and safety. Make sure the ocean floor is not too deep as well, so that loot can be collecting from killed players in the ocean. Appropriate steps for this stage are (unless you are using WorldPainter, in which case follow a WorldPainter tutorial on Youtube):

1. Start by creating the major natural landmarks, such as mountains, archways and rivers with the appropriate tools.
2. Add some smaller hills around to give variation in terrain, unless you have the area designated for structures, or you just want it very flat. Leave a flat area in the center for the Cornucopia
3. There are ways in which you can change the biomes of areas of a map, so do this at this stage.
4. Build any giant trees at this stage, unless they are integrated into a structure of some sort.
5. Do anything else terraforming-based at this stage, such as ravines and caves, to name a few.
6. Touch everything you can up by hand. Scan the entire map for errors you may have done.

 

[static_nightmare]

Stage 2: Building Structures​

Build to the theme that you have planned out, and don't sway away from that theme, unless it is absolutely necessary. Make sure that all of the builds are detailed and appropriate blocks are used, and think about how PvP may work on the structures. Build areas that players will have advantages over other players, such as a higher ground. Take time to make the best structures you possibly can. Keep in mind where chests may be hidden, but do not place them yet. Some redstone-based structures will greatly improve the map. They aren't necessary, but will definitely enhance the map, so it is worth the time learning the principles of redstone. Make good use of WorldEdit to lay out large structure. MCEdit is a great application as well for similar building purposes of WorldEdit. Build according to the terrain you have laid out. You may wish to do more terraforming if you change your mind about something, but beware of possibly damaging structures you have built. Trees should be placed only once you are 100% certain of the terraforming. For tree layout, make sure trees are generally not too dense. Use a variety of tree types, rather than just sticking to one type of tree, for a good look. Avoid mass usage of some block types that cause lag or annoyance to players, such as vines or lava.
It will also be helpful to lay out the Cornucopia for the map at this stage. The Cornucopia should suit the theme of the map, and it should be fair to all players on separate podiums to access. If you intend for the map to be played on servers without plugins, hook the podiums up to a redstone system in which all the players can access the map at the exact same time, with a host that pulls a lever to start the games. If you are confident with it, you can use command blocks for starting the games. Keep in mind that the Cornucopia will be where the death match shall take place as well, so design it in a way that will make death matches more intense. (Breeze Island = Bad, Survival Games 1 = Good)
The time taken for this stage depends on the theme of the map, but the general rules are:

• With more terraforming, you can get away with less structures (e.g. Survival Games 3)
• With less terraforming, you must provide many more structures (e.g. Survival Games 2)

By the end of this stage, your map should be appealing to the eye and interesting, despite not having the necessary requirements for a Survival Games map yet. Appropriate steps for this stage are:

1. Lay out and build an appealing Cornucopia, preferably in the center of the map
2. Build the largest structures first, and apply detail after using WorldEdit or MCEdit to create the 'shell'
3. Move onto the smaller structures. Make sure they are just as detailed as the largest structures.
4. Once done with the structural builds, place trees, tall grass, and perhaps cacti around the map.
5. Across all steps, USE WORLDEDIT TO YOUR ADVANTAGE

 

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Stage 3: Making it a Survival Games Map​

For chest placement, it may be useful to use a Nodus Client so that you can see whereabouts you have hidden any chests. Do not use this client on MCSG servers, or you will be hated by many and you will be banned permanently. Hide many of the chests well, and hook as many as you can up to traps that can be set off, killing the player rather than trapping them. Some chests should be easier and more obvious to find than others. Make sure that there are chests that require more skill to get to that can be Tier 2 chests on the servers. Such skills required to get chests can be parkour, or revealed after cracking a redstone contraption. There should be some double chests around the map as well, to attract players to. I personally think you should put more chests in certain areas so that they become hotspots for players, although some people may disagree. For building parkour, make sure it is not too difficult, but does require some concentration and skill to complete. Reduce things based on luck by as much as you possibly can. Overall, make sure that there are chests in every part of the map. Also at this stage, build the glass dome using WorldEdit. Experiment with different dome radius' so that none of your structures are cut off by the barrier. Steps for this stage, quite simply, are:

1. Build the dome first on this stage, so that you are not placing chests out of reach, unless your intention is to troll people
2. Place the chests, crafting tables, and furnaces well and accordingly, spreading them out around the map, arranging hotspots in some interesting locations. It is not necessary to fill them for MCSG, but do so if you want people to play it without plugins.
3. Finally, you will need to be scanning the map and making any absolute final touch-ups that you need to do.
4. Post the map download on a thread in the 'Finished Maps' forum. Include several appealing pictures and a video, if you can. Make sure to give credit to everyone who helped out. Give the map a nice name that people will like and remember, and include a detailed description of it in the thread.

Things to Have:

• A suitable, well-addressed theme
• Appealing terrain
• Detailed Structures
• Redstone contraptions
• A well-designed Cornucopia
• Well-placed chests + Parkour

Things to Avoid:

• Lack of a theme
• Boring and hard-to-play-on terrain, and large areas of water
• Poorly made structures
• Large quantities of lag-producing blocks
• Unfair Cornucopia with long, boring deathmatches
• Lack of chests, and poorly made or non-existent Parkour

Hopefully, this will help you out big-time for building Survival Games maps fit for these servers.

If there is anything you think I should add to this thread, let me know in the thread

 

[Enderdude878]

Yay, you did it. Kewl!

 

[DaPieHD]

LOVE DIS THREAD

 

[Porkstorm]

You have zero map building experience

 

[static_nightmare]

You have zero map building experience

Erm.

 

[Porkstorm]

Erm.

Don't worry it was a joke

 

[ShaunDepro]

Theme > Layout (or design document) > Terraforming > Landscape Detail > Buildings/Structures > Traps/Redstone > Chests

?

On an extremely serious note, don't even think about installing Nodus because it will steal your session key, and place your password in a spam database. Good day :3

 

[Lululioness]

WOW! G33ke.

Nah, it's great. Amazing job, helped a lot

 

[static_nightmare]

Theme > Layout (or design document) > Terraforming > Landscape Detail > Buildings/Structures > Traps/Redstone > Chests

?

On an extremely serious note, don't even think about installing Nodus because it will steal your session key, and place your password in a spam database. Good day :3

It does that?